Photography is another one I started off in when I was still fairly ‘ickle… like maybe around 1985, I dunno.
The first camera I was given was one of them little HALINA 110mm jobbies, which lasted me until around 1987/88 I reckon. Next I was given a slightly more serious camera in 1988 – my Mum’s old Rollei B35, but it wasn’t long before the back started falling off on that, followed by the old Rollei locked-up mechanism trick (still kinda hoping to get it fixed one day, even now almost 25yrs later of it being laid-up in the drawer).
Then for my birthday in 1990 I was given something a bit more up to date, my Olympus AM-100 compact film camera which I used right through until maybe 2007/2008, though what I really longed for was a Minolta SLR camera with a big-ass Sigma lens and adjustable bits (still waiting for the opportunity to get one). At least the Olympus had a Flash, but it also had a motor for auto-winding the film that could be heard above the sound of the engines of 2 of the most powerful Monster trucks in Europe (and also had an occasional habit of rewinding the film prematurely, like 8 shots into a 24/36 exposure film).
For my birthday in 2006, I decided to splash out on my first proper digital camera, and bought myself a Fuji A345 Digital Compact, which at last gave me a lens with a zoom + lots of things to adjust.
In 2007, I decided to have a crack at running my own photography business, taking Stock Photographs, so another camera upgrade was in order. I went and got myself a Fuji S6500fd “bridge camera” (which at least looks like an SLR camera, and fools some people enough of the time), having previously also looked at the Fuji S5600 + S9600 (can you tell I like Fuji digital cameras?)… though what I really wanted was the Fuji S3 Pro Digital SLR + it’s Fuji S5 replacement (or maybe one of it’s Nikon rivals).
In 2010 I took my first steps into HD photography/videoclips with a SONY MHS-PM5 Bloggie when the need arose to capture final shots of my Grandma’s house before it was sold after she popped her clogs. Wasn’t too impressed with that camera (e.g. colour reproduction of pink/orange sunset type scenes is so crap it captures them as yellow/white + also the paint/ink on the buttons faded in under a year).
Since 2011 I’ve mostly been using my Fuji F550EXR digital compact, an Olympus SZ-30MR I blagged for free through Amazon UK’s VINE reviews program, and a Panasonic HDC-SD800 Camcorder all of which I’m happy with (though still have occasional yearnings for more cameras old & new)
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